Q&A with Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Q: At what point did you realize that WALKER'S CROSSING was your 100th book? Were you aware of its significance while you were writing it?
A: The number of a particular book is in the lowest percentile of things I worry about. I keep a huge notebook with ledger type sheets in it to record royalty statements, and on one of those pages, with numbered lines, I enter the titles of books in the order that I write them. It was only when I wrote the title of Walker's Crossing that I realized it would be my 100th book.
Q: What are your thoughts on reaching this literary milestone?
A: On whether or not I will live long enough to write the next hundred. I'm either blessed or cursed in that all the while I am writing one book, wisps of characters in books-to-be chatter away inside my head, upsetting me, distracting me, each insisting that HE be written about next.
Q: Unfortunately, the topic of hate crimes and the search for tolerance, both of which you handle so delicately in Walker's Crossing, couldn't be more timely. What inspired you to tackle this subject?
A: I was researching the novel long before this current surge of hate crimes because I became interested in the subject of change and how we adapt to it. A number of years ago, Parade Magazine ran a feature article on a former skinhead who had done some vicious things. He had taken a good look at his prejudices, realized that they were the results of his own insecurities, and set about turning his life around. I thought how often hate crimes are the result of fear--fear that others will take our jobs, our women, our country, our money, our guns, you name it. It is so much easier to say that the problem lies out there somewhere, with a particular ethnic group, than that it lies within ourselves. I wondered at what age a young person would be most vulnerable to this kind of propaganda, and set myself the task of creating a home in which a twelve-year-old boy has been raised with this fear of change, and trying to determine what it would take for him to see his family and their attitudes in a different light.
Q: Walker's Crossing is set in Wyoming. Does that state have any special significance for you?
A: Well, the novel takes place on a ranch, so I wanted a western state, and also a place free of known hate groups--the kind of community where people might say, "It couldn't happen here." At the time I did the research, Wyoming, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, had no known hate groups. That has, of course, changed.
Q: What kind of research did you do for Walker's Crossing?
A: It was scary. For a number of years I immersed myself in literature from white supremacist organizations, articles written by agents who had infiltrated these groups, as well as material supplied by the Southern Poverty Law Center. I familiarized myself with the types of personalities likely to be drawn to racist rhetoric, read interviews with people who had joined these organizations, and tried to identify with the mind set of ordinary men and women who were simply fearful of the future, and found security in this somewhat paranoid little world. One thing I found was that there are all sorts of people attracted to these groups: survivalists, racists, fundamentalist Christians, white supremacists, gun enthusiasts. . . . Not all are racists; not all are Christian; not all are Nazis it's a mixture.
Q: Your books feature an extraordinary range of characters/stories. Do you base characters on people from your real life?
A: No, almost never. When you put real people in your stories, they don't do what you want them to do. But I do use bits and pieces the quirks of one personality in the body of someone else, etc. When we were growing up, our parents read aloud to us every night until we were well into our teens, and they read a wide variety of stuff. All of Mark Twain, The Wind in the Willows, Sherlock Holmes, Missionary Stories for Little Folk, Alice in Wonderland, etc. so we heard and loved stories of all kinds, the classics as well as the ordinary, characters of many cultures and times. Perhaps this is why I could never be happy writing only one type of book.
Q: The film of Shiloh Season has just been released on video. How does it feel to see characters you have created come to life on the big screen?
A: That's scary too. A character on the screen is never quite what you imagined in your head, but in some cases it can be even better. The character of Judd Travers, for example, as played by Scott Wilson in the film version of both Shiloh, and Shiloh Season, is even better than I had hoped. He does a masterful job of interpreting the angst behind this character. You have to approach each film, I think, with the understanding that a book must be changed to some degree to become a movie. It must be condensed, for one thing. A boy might be sitting on a log contemplating life for three pages in a book, and this would be deadly on the screen. An author also needs to see it a few times to begin to overlook all the little insignificant things that "aren't right" so he/she can focus on the bigger picture and how it all comes together.
Q: In Alice on the Outside, your latest book about Alice, she has reached a new level of maturity and begins to ask a lot of detailed questions about sex. As she enters high school, how will your writing process change as you write about a familiar character for an older audience?
A: Alice changes gradually--I get three or four books out of every year of her life so it's easy for me to change along with her. I seem to have a good memory of each year of my own growing up, namely the embarrassments that haunted me at every age, so I'm comfortable putting myself in her place. I learn from the many young girls I meet, I have relatives about this age, I read a great deal about the lives of teenage girls, and, most important, the girls who write to me on my Alice web site tell me all sorts of personal things about themselves, urging me to put these in my books, and I do use some of their experiences.
Q: What does the future hold for Alice?
A: What? And ruin the anticipation? I do know how the final book will end. At least with Alice and her father, I do. I'm not so sure about her big brother, Lester. Girls beg me to keep the series going until she is 60 years old and opens the time capsule her class buried in the school yard. They want to know if and who she marries, whether or not she has children. I get a surprising number of letters from college girls and grown women who beg to know what will happen next, and say they grew up on Alice.
Q: What's next for you?
A: There's another zany Bessledorf mystery coming out soon, Peril in the Bessledorf Parachute Factory, and another book I absolutely love, a Gothic mystery called Jade Green: A Ghost Story. It scared me half to death to write it, and I defy anyone to read it without pulling the covers over his head when he goes to sleep. When he tries to go to sleep.
This interview has been provided by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing and can be reprinted for publication either in full or excerpted as individual questions and answers, so long as they are reprinted in their entirety.
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Reviews
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Alice on the Outside
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Part of the "Alice" series, which is reportedly popular with many kids and censored by some adults, this realistic young adult novel is told from the perspective of Alice, a lively, questioning 8th grader. Alice and her two long-term friends, Pamela and Elizabeth, have some serious questions regarding what sexual intercourse is really like, how it feels to be discriminated against, and why some people are gay. Luckily, she has supportive friends, family and teachers to help her puzzle out some answers. Many young readers are probably drawn to these books because they address some of their own concerns in a very frank, detailed and caring way. This novel is also appealing because of the warm relationship between Alice and her father and brother, and for the many touches of humor and fun that keep it from seeming like a series of questions and answers. And, although not perfect, through it all Alice remains a "nice kid" on the way to becoming a strong young woman. 1999, Atheneum, Ages 12 up, $15.00. Reviewer: Gisela Jernigan
Sang Spell
Phillis Reynolds Naylor
Before he ever left home Josh Vardy felt lost. His father died when he was small, and now, just as he is preparing for his exciting junior year of high school, his mother is killed in an automobile crash. Josh decides to take his time hitchhiking across the country to begin his new life in Texas. When he is beaten and robbed and left on a secluded path somewhere in Appalachia, Josh is really lost. He wakes to find himself in a strange community called Canara, where Melungeons, a people of uncertain origin, have retreated so far into the mountains that they live in a time and space all their own. The Melungeons are an odd but decent folk, and Josh struggles to find his way back to the outside world. And he must decide if he truly wants to go. This fascinatingly textured novel is haunting and gratifying, layered with emotion and suspense. Students will likely be motivated to explore further the Melungeons and their largely forgotten place in American history. A wonderful book. 1998, Atheneum, Ages 11 up, $16.00. Reviewer: Christopher Moning
Shiloh Season
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
This sequel to the Newbery Medal winning Shiloh is set in rural West Virginia. The story continues the saga of the Preston family, especially 11-year-old Marty and his dog Shiloh. Marty rescued Shiloh from an abusive owner, Judd Travers. Judd, a solitary character who drinks too much, resents losing his dog and torments Marty and his family through increasingly serious deeds against them. Just when resolution seems impossible, Marty and his father, aided by Shiloh, rescue Judd from a truck accident. Their kindness to Judd during his recuperation helps Marty overcome his negative feelings about the man. A realistic portrait of rural life and culture. 1998 (1996), Atheneum, Ages 8 to 12, $15.00and $4.50. Reviewer: Meredith Kiger
Walker's Crossing
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
In this provocative, timely novel, Naylor explores the life of seventh grade Ryan Walker who lives with his family on the large Saddlebow Ranch in Wyoming. Ryan dreams of becoming a rancher. With an injured father and uninterested mother, Ryan finds support working for the ranch's chief. Ryan's older brother Gil becomes deeply involved with a local militia movement. Confused by all the racist propaganda bandied about by his brother, Ryan, his best friend Matt, and other local citizens explore all perspectives on the topic, including befriending a Jewish teacher and a new ethnically different kid in school. When the militia's actions include murder, Ryan must decide whether to tell about his brother's involvement, risking his place in his family, school, and community. 1999, Atheneum, Ages 10 up, $16.00. Reviewer: Rebecca Joseph
Updated 2006
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